Aphra Behn (1640–89) was the most prolific female playwright of the Restoration and the first Englishwoman to make a living as a professional writer. Best known for her 1677 comedy The Rover and for Oroonoko, her 1688 novella of Atlantic slavery, she also published lyric poetry and translations from works in Latin and French. Abdelazer, her only tragedy, draws from existing early modern treatments of stage Moors, and offers a blend of received notions about black masculinity with a portrait of besieged royalty.